Portland, Maine 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Portland, Maine 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Portland, Maine 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Depth Chart

$ 418.00
24.5 x 31 in
Baltic birch, hand-stained water
Up to nine laser-cut birch layers
Carved bathymetric relief, laser-etched labels
Soundings: NOAA nautical survey data
How the Water Becomes Wood

A chart is a stack of flat sheets until the water's real soundings tell it what shape to take.

  1. SurveyReal bathymetric sounding data sets every contour line before a single cut is made.
  2. CutEach depth band is laser-cut from its own sheet of Baltic birch, up to nine layers deep.
  3. StainWater layers are stained by hand, reading darker the deeper the water runs.
  4. StackThe sheets are registered and stacked in sequence, and the bed's true shape rises out of the wood.
  5. EtchDepths and place names are burned into the grain itself, never printed on it.
  6. FrameA solid Baltic birch frame and acrylic glass finish the piece, ready to hang.

Portland, Maine and Casco Bay in layered Baltic birch, 24.5 by 31 inches: the working waterfront, the island-studded bay, and the headland light that has guarded it all since 1791, every depth contour its own laser-cut layer.

Casco Bay's islands are called the Calendar Islands from the old boast that there is one for every day of the year, and while the count falls short, the effect from the water does not. The ferries thread them daily, Peaks to Cliff to Chebeague, past lobster boats working the ledges. At the bay's entrance stands Portland Head Light, completed in 1791 during Washington's administration and still the most painted lighthouse in America. On the chart, the islands scatter across the upper layers while Hussey Sound and the shipping channel cut deep engraved lanes toward the wharves of the Old Port.

Each contour is a laser-cut sheet, stacked by hand, engraved, and finished behind acrylic glass in a solid Baltic birch frame.

Ferry commuters, lobstermen, and anyone who has eaten dinner on a wharf over this water: your bay, island by island.

The engraving spans the Old Port and the Fore River, Peaks, Great Diamond, and Chebeague islands, Cape Elizabeth and its two lights to the south. Up the coast: Boothbay Harbor and Bar Harbor; inland, the city's own Sebago Lake.

  • 24.5 × 31 in
  • Solid Baltic birch frame
  • Acrylic glass front, ready to hang
  • Free next-business-day shipping on orders placed by 2 PM EST
  • 14-day returns
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